You think that'd be cool - except for what the installers did.

Never mind that they came unannounced, a week and a half after the maintenance guy said they would, with my computer and bills just lying around the apartment. But what kind of balls do you need, or how little intelligence must you have, to do this to someone's apartment and LEAVE IT when there is a broom and a trash can not eight inches away?!?

Yes, I'm back. No, the pics aren't ready yet. Some of you have already heard some of the stories, and honestly I feel somewhat inadequate to the task of relating the energy of those three weeks. The pics might help, some, but a frozen moment of 3000 yellow-shirted Swedes can't compare to jumping up and down with them, singing "Inne boll in de mål" (Sorry, I learned how to say it, not spell it). I've been to just about every major league sport in America, and I've not seen anything like it. Sports in America are more for watching than participating in.

Outside the stadiums, people were fun and friendly, and great to talk to. Hi to my new friends, Heilco from Rotterdam; Per, Anna, Mikael, Patrik, and Ölwin from Göteburg, Sweden; and Martin, Linda, Patrik (another) and the rest of the Holmsund crew.

On returning, I was back at work the next day, but then there was a long weekend the day after that, so that kinda threw off the readjustment. Things to do... Retelling trip stories a dozen times. Cleaning the apartment. Perhaps most bizarrely, catching up on 3 weeks of news, and then compulsively checking the news sites every 20 minutes, expecting another glut of news to come pouring out, or something.

There were some big downs on the whole trip - more on that later - but overall it was one of the best times I've ever had.

World Cup '06 is only 2 years away...